Jury deliberations began Thursday and will resume this morning in the corruption trial of Cirilo "Chilo" Madrid in U.S. District Court.

In closing arguments on Thursday, Madrid, 67, was characterized as someone who either stole from mentally ill children or who worked heroically to help them.

Deliberations began after seven days of testimony in the case of Madrid, who resigned earlier this year as long-time CEO of Aliviane Inc., an El Paso nonprofit that provides drug and alcohol counseling and other behavioral-health services.

REPORTER

Marty Schladen

Madrid is charged with conspiracy and theft or embezzlement of federal funds from the Border Children's Mental Health Collaborative in 2005 and 2006.

His longtime associate, Ruben "Sonny" Garcia, and Garcia's company, LKG Enterprises Inc., pleaded guilty this summer to bribing former County Judge Dolores Briones with $24,000 and defrauding the children's collaborative of $550,000. Briones pleaded guilty in a separate proceeding in December 2011, days before Madrid and Garcia were indicted.

In closing arguments Thursday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Juanita Fielden told the jury that the evidence proved a simple point about Madrid.

"He steals money that is meant to help emotionally disturbed children so they can come back to El Paso and be with their families," she said. "What kind of trust is that?"

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Fielden said Madrid worked behind the scenes to corruptly steer the $600,000-a-year contract to evaluate the collaborative to LKG so he could make $100,000 off it through a subcontractor. She contended the government got nothing of value from the $550,000 it paid LKG.

But Madrid's attorney, Leon Schydlower, told the jury that Garcia testified that LKG had done work after signing a plea agreement this summer that says the company hadn't done any work for the collaborative.

"He made a false statement under oath," Schydlower said of Garcia. "This is their star witness. This is who they're basing their whole case on."

Schydlower said the evidence showed that LKG had outperformed its predecessor, TriWest Group of Boulder, Colo.

"One company was hustling and getting it done," he said. "One company was actually working."

Prosecutors contended that the documents produced by LKG and its subcontractors were put together in late 2006, as federal regulators were raising an alarm that LKG was not meeting its requirements and the $9.5 million federal grant might be terminated. The plan for financial sustainability Madrid was paid to perform was not even his own work, Assistant U.S. Attorney William Lewis said.

"The report Mr. Madrid did was plagiarized, but he still thought it was worth the $150 an hour he was paid," Lewis said.

Schydlower pointed out several inconsistencies in testimony and the government's evidence as proof that the case against his client had "unraveled." He also said that while prosecutors claimed LKG's contract with the collaborative was gotten through corrupt means, two other contracts with the collaborative were also put out for bid in 2005.

But Fielden pointed to a secret recording of a meeting in 2010 between Briones and Madrid. On the recording, Madrid said he wanted the non-LKG contracts for Aliviane.

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